And then the day of the results came....
Ladies and gentlemen, for some reason, the Green Party, in terms of European elections results in the UK has actually gone backwards (slightly) in many regions in terms of vote share- even though we elected Molly Scott-Cato in the South West and re-elected Keith Taylor and Jean Lambert in the South East and London respectively, giving us 3 MEPs, our vote share actually decreased overall, even in the West Midlands where I was expecting a surge.
How did this happen? We had a useful message for voters and highlighted important issues voters needed to know, like the threat of TTIP. We campaigned positively and we exposed what UKIP is really like to voters. We campaigned for a progressive and more equal Europe, and highlighted the positives the Green/EFA group has achieved in the European Parliament. So why did British voters not support us more than in 2009?
Meanwhile, UKIP, thanks to excessive and biased media coverage from not only the BBC but also the mainstream media, topped the poll in the UK's EU elections, electing 23 MEPs across Britain. The Conservatives, meanwhile, were pushed by Labour into third place overall down from first-their worst result in any nationwide election in British history, although they still annoyingly elected 18 MEPs-down only 7 from 2009. Labour gained 7 MEPs putting them equal with the Conservatives. The Liberal Democrats, meanwhile, were almost wiped out in these elections, going down from 11 MEPs to just one in the South East, and we Greens pushed them into fifth place nationwide.
UKIP's rise came not only at the expense of the ConDems but also the BNP and the English Democrats, whose vote shares collapsed- the BNP lost both MEPs, and in all regions of Britain, the BNP and English Democrats lists performed so badly they lost the £5000 deposit by not receiving 2.5 % of the votes cast in any region. An Independence From Europe, even in the West Midlands where former UKIP MEP Mike Nattrass was leading it, also failed to make much of an impact, only polling any sizable number of votes due to its confusing ballot description of 'UK Independence Now'. The Christian People's Alliance's vote meanwhile also fell sharply, even in London where they passed the 2.5% deposit retention threshold in 2009. As for the far-left in the UK, No2EU and Socialist Labour, they performed even worse than in 2009, even in Wales which like Scotland is generally more left-leaning than England. At least Plaid Cymru and the Scottish National Party have retained their MEPs.
Overall, the European elections of 2014 have been in my opinion a sad day for progressiveness in the UK, and I hope the BBC will give the Green Party fair coverage in future- a petition to make sure we get fair coverage has received thousands of signatures so far, and if election debates do take place next year we should definitely have a place in them.
I will bring you the results of European elections from other European nations later, in addition to the final results from Greece's local elections and the Belgian elections which took place on the same day as the European elections.
Alan.
How did this happen? We had a useful message for voters and highlighted important issues voters needed to know, like the threat of TTIP. We campaigned positively and we exposed what UKIP is really like to voters. We campaigned for a progressive and more equal Europe, and highlighted the positives the Green/EFA group has achieved in the European Parliament. So why did British voters not support us more than in 2009?
Meanwhile, UKIP, thanks to excessive and biased media coverage from not only the BBC but also the mainstream media, topped the poll in the UK's EU elections, electing 23 MEPs across Britain. The Conservatives, meanwhile, were pushed by Labour into third place overall down from first-their worst result in any nationwide election in British history, although they still annoyingly elected 18 MEPs-down only 7 from 2009. Labour gained 7 MEPs putting them equal with the Conservatives. The Liberal Democrats, meanwhile, were almost wiped out in these elections, going down from 11 MEPs to just one in the South East, and we Greens pushed them into fifth place nationwide.
UKIP's rise came not only at the expense of the ConDems but also the BNP and the English Democrats, whose vote shares collapsed- the BNP lost both MEPs, and in all regions of Britain, the BNP and English Democrats lists performed so badly they lost the £5000 deposit by not receiving 2.5 % of the votes cast in any region. An Independence From Europe, even in the West Midlands where former UKIP MEP Mike Nattrass was leading it, also failed to make much of an impact, only polling any sizable number of votes due to its confusing ballot description of 'UK Independence Now'. The Christian People's Alliance's vote meanwhile also fell sharply, even in London where they passed the 2.5% deposit retention threshold in 2009. As for the far-left in the UK, No2EU and Socialist Labour, they performed even worse than in 2009, even in Wales which like Scotland is generally more left-leaning than England. At least Plaid Cymru and the Scottish National Party have retained their MEPs.
Overall, the European elections of 2014 have been in my opinion a sad day for progressiveness in the UK, and I hope the BBC will give the Green Party fair coverage in future- a petition to make sure we get fair coverage has received thousands of signatures so far, and if election debates do take place next year we should definitely have a place in them.
I will bring you the results of European elections from other European nations later, in addition to the final results from Greece's local elections and the Belgian elections which took place on the same day as the European elections.
Alan.
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